June 21, 1906] 



NA TURE 



part of Baron Os-ten Sacken's entoniologital work 

 consisled in workintj up tho OipUira of North 

 Amcrioti, in close collaboration with Dr. H. Loew. 

 This work had for its main object the compilation 

 of a cataloj^iu; of North American Diptcra of which 

 a fir^t edition was published as early as i<S5.S by 

 the Smithsonian Institution. It was superseded by 

 a far more complete second catalogue published 

 twenty years later. A great deal of further time was 

 taken up with the self-imposed and, at times, some- 

 what tedious task of editing and translating Loew's 

 monographs, and, in addition, important papers were 

 |)ublished on the Tipulidae, Tabanidae, Cecidomyidaj. 

 and Cynipidae. Between 1S71 and 1873 some time was 

 spent in Europe, and in 1876 an expedition was made 

 to California the results of which were published 

 under the title " Western Diptera " in the Bulletin 

 of the U.S. Geological .and Geographical Survey. 

 Eleven new- genera and 137 new species were de- 

 scribed. 



In 1877 Baron Osten Sacken came to Europe, and 

 t<«)k up his abode at Heidelberg, The present writer 

 first met him there in the summer of 1S77, and, being 

 greatly interested in entomology as a hobby, a close 

 friendship sprang up, which soon became a friendship 

 for life. In the years which followed and which con- 

 stituted the third period of his entomok)gical career. 

 Baron Osten .Sacken published numerous critical 

 papers on Diptera, and increased the number of his 

 published writings from 53 to 179. In 1881 he pub- 

 lished ".An Essay on Comparative Chaototaxy," 

 in which it was shown for the first time that the 

 arrangement of the bristles on the bodies of Diptcra 

 afforded a valuable aid to their classification. In 1S92 

 he published one of his most important papers, on the 

 characteristics of the three divisions of Diptera, 

 Kcniocera vera, h'einoccra anoiuala, and EremochtCta, 

 in which two important innovations were introduced, 

 one referring to the preservation of the distinction be- 

 tween the Brachycera and Nemocera, the other to the 

 grouping' of the families of Diptera into larger groups, 

 to- which he subsequently adopted Comstock's name 

 of "Supcrfamilies." 



The " Bugonia " superstition of the ancients re- 

 garding the production of bees from the carcases of 

 dead animals found a ready explanation at Baron 

 Osten Sacken's hands in the close resemblance to 

 a bee of the common drone-fly, Erisfalis tenax, the 

 larvas of which Tive in putrescent matter. In the 

 paper, first published in commemoration of the 

 twenty-fifth anniversary of the Italian Entomological 

 Society in 1893, •"''d afterwards amplified and printed 

 at Heidelberg, Baron Osten Sacken traces in detail 

 the history of the Bugonia in different ages and nations. 



His last important task was to publish a " Record 

 of Mv Life-work in Entomologv," which he com- 

 ciuded in 1004, to quote his own words, " at the age 

 of seventy-six, in good health, and with unimpaired 

 eyesight." 



Baron Osten Sacken took great delight in everv- 

 thing connected with mathematics, especially his- 

 torical points, and the present writer has an earlv 

 recollection of a question he proposed relating to 

 the conchoid of Nicomedes. In his later years he 

 made a collection of photographs of paintings of the 

 great masters, and it gave him pleasure to arrange 

 and classify them with the same systematic attention 

 to minute detail that he had so successfully brought 

 to bear on the classification of the Diptera. In his 

 manner of living he was equally methodical, and 

 this spirit is shown in the publication of his " Record." 

 His interest in the work of others won for him many 

 friends, who will greatly miss him. He has given us 

 an excellent example of what can be done bv a man 



NO. 191 2, VOL. 74] 



who cultivates some branch of science for its own 

 sake, and who is not debarred by pressure of pro- 

 fessional duties from making the study his life-work. 

 For such workers, biological rather than physical 

 subjects in many cases offer the most promising field. 



G. H. Bkv.w. 



NOTES. 



Prof. G. von Neumaver, who celebrates his eightieth 

 birthday to-day, will receive the congratulations of many 

 meteorologists and other scientific workers. Nearly a 

 year ago the first part of a third revised edition of instruc- 

 tions and notes on scientific observations for travellers, 

 edited by him under the title " .^nleitung zu wissenschaft- 

 lichen Beobachtungen auf Reisen," was published, and the 

 last part appeared very opportunely a few days ago. The 

 work has been brought up to date, and is of such a com- 

 prehensive nature that justice cannot be done to it in a 

 hurried notice, but we hope to deal with this important 

 contribution to scientific literature in a future issue. 



Mr. W. de Fonviei.le informs us that Mr. W. Wellman 

 and his balloon — the United .States — have left Paris for 

 Spitsbergen by way of Antwerp, where the balloon was 

 shipped to Tromso, and from there to Magdalena Bay, !at. 

 79° 40' N. (Danes Island). The last part of the voyage 

 will be executed on board the Fritjof, a steamer put at 

 the disposal of the explorer by the .American Government. 

 Mr. Wellman hopes to be in Tromso before June 25, and 

 at Danes Island on July i. There he will find every- 

 thing ready for the inflation of his large balloon, measuring 

 6300 cubic metres, and having a gross lifting power of 

 7000 kilograms. The necessary preparation will be made 

 by Major Hearsey, of the U.S. Weather Bureau, who left 

 Paris a month ago in order to erect at Danes Island a 

 shelter where the balloon may be housed during the pre- 

 liminary experiments, which are expected to occupy the 

 whole of July. It is only in .August that the departure 

 for the Pole is to take place, if the experiments have 

 proved satisfactory and have been concluded. Mr. Well- 

 man is travelling with Mr. Collardeau, a French chemist, 

 and Mr. Hervieux, a French aeronaut, who is to be the 

 pilot of the polar balloon. In addition to Mr. Wellman, 

 the balloon will have on board Major Hearsey. Mr. 

 Hervieux, and two Norwegian sailors who assisted him 

 in his two previous explorations. .A wireless telegraphy 

 system will be established between the two stations 

 of Tromso and Danes Island. .A meteorological station 

 will also be established at the same places, supplied with 

 a captive balloon for obtaining records of the temperature, 

 humidity, direction and force of the wind in the free 

 atmosphere. So for the first time since telegraphy (wire) 

 was utilised in meteorology, American and European 

 meteorologists will have at their disposal observations of 

 the weather in the neighbourhood of the North Pole as 

 well as from tropical stations. 



The second of the two annual conversaziones of the 

 Royal Society was held as we went to press last night. 



Mr. W. R. Cooper has accepted the position of editor 

 of the Electrician in succession to Mr. F. C. Raphael, 

 who will retire on June 30. 



It is stated by the British Medical Journal that the 

 institute for the experimental Investigation of cancer at 

 Heidelberg is now complete. Prof. Czerny is the director ; 

 Dr. von Dungern has been appointed head of the scientific 

 department, and Dr. von Wasielewski head of the depart- 

 ment of parasitological research. 



